S01.E08: Citydrop

[Cranberry]

Quote

The witches' training culminates at Citydrop, their final training exercise; devastating secrets come to light, splintering the unit and forcing Tally to question her blind trust; a Spree threat changes the course of the cadets' lives.

 

Original air date: 5/6/20

Sneak peeks (only two so far; usually there are four):

 

Another sneak peek added today:

 

[UNOSEZ]

Good episode.. Abigail going ape on that fake spree was brutal( the whole fight was).. Raelle giving it to fake Scylla ( even better because she woulda done it for the real scylla).. I enjoyed angry tally in the beginning... I can feel Anacostia slipping away from alder... I will need the show to give Abigail her "special" we've seen tally use hers and Raelle get hers off a few times... I knew libba was a goner after Abigail was so nice to her.. Good seeing Adil... Don't love killing civilians.. Tho In a time crunch not sure what the other options were... Can't wait for nxt week

[Chick2Chic]

I am also ready for Abigail to show her special power. 

Good episode. Alder's sketchiness was on full display and the Bellweather Unit along with Anacostia have got their side eye on her.

Raelle annoyed me in the beginning with the Scylla revelation but I will give her points for eventually reaching out to Abigail & Tally before the mission as well as putting her own feelings aside to out the mission first. Tally was in a tough spot but I think her keeping it to telling just Anacostia was the right thing. The timing of Raelle and Abigail finding out was bad (but optimal for drama's sake).

Adil! I enjoyed seeing him show up to check on Abigail. I really like those two together.

 

 

[AnimeMania]

Continuity Error?: The flag on Libba's coffin has 50 stars.

[Cranberry]

Shit's definitely starting to hit the fan. Good character development for everyone here, including poor Libba. I knew she was a goner the second she and Abigail started sliding more into frenemy territory. I'm disappointed that she died, but it's also important to show that sending unprepared cadets into battle has consequences.

Abigail had it rough this episode. It was tough to watch her beat up that fake Spree agent and break down over Libba's death, but it further reinforced that she's got PTSD and showed her that war isn't all power and glory like she used to think it was. Good acting from Ashley Nicole Williams, too. 

Tally had more to do than usual; it was nice seeing her use her power so well, and I'm glad that although she was somewhat apologetic with Abigail and Raelle, she wouldn't let them push her around -- when she turned Scylla in, she truly was doing what was best for her unit, and she was following orders by keeping that secret. I'm glad she stood firm on that and that the girls accepted it fairly quickly.

I liked seeing Raelle attack "Scylla." I do believe that Scylla actually fell for Raelle, but love alone doesn't make up for the lying and, y'know, being a terrorist, so it was nice to see Raelle take a moment to think about past encounters and accept actual evidence instead of blindly believing in Scylla's innocence because they had a connection. I especially liked that instead of going in guns blazing with Anacostia this time, she listened to her and accepted the truth. She still doesn't have the entire picture -- Scylla did defy Spree orders by not bringing her to the rendezvous point, after all -- but I'm sure that'll come out in time.

Speaking of Anacostia, I liked her more this episode than I usually do. She was gentle with Raelle and Abigail when she needed to be, she made it clear to Tally that killing civilians wasn't her call, and she's clearly losing faith in Alder, which should make for some interesting storylines in the future.

Only two episodes left this season. I'm looking forward to them.

[TiffanyNichelle]

Poor Libba. I liked her and Abigail always fighting. They actually had a fun relationship. Adler lying about the hostages just broke something in Tally and Abigail both. Tally really wanted to believe in it all. Adler is fucking up a lot.

I'm so glad Raelle finally accepted the truth about Scylla because I was so over watching her run around all crazy over that girl. Good thing she ran into a woman Scylla impersonated since she wouldn't believe Tally's visual memory of what actually happened. Ugh. Also good job, Scylla, picking someone Raelle could never run into ever.

And because I love the world building I wrote down the timeline that was in the classroom:

1692 Salem Witch Trials

1735 War for Independence 

1800 First Mexican War 

1810-1812 Second Mexican War

1840-1842 Civil War (still pretty late)

1908-1911 World War

1940 The Hague

1961-1964 Chinese Civil War

1960-Present Proxy Wars

Rise of The Spree

 

[Cranberry]

Oh good, I was hoping someone would grab that timeline! Thanks.

This week's After the Storm:

 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I loved seeing the culmination of all the show's world building and the cadets' training in this episode.

While I think that Alder does have the right intentions (keeping the world safe), now her cadets know that she has no problem sacrificing them or civilians to achieve that goal and that she has no problem straight up publicly lying to cover her ass.

If you are looking at the big picture, as someone like Alder who has been around for centuries is, a few innocent dead people is worth preventing the Spree from blowing up Boston, and lying about the exact circumstances keeps the witch military intact a little longer (when she knows that there is already talk about disbanding them).

I'm not necessarily defending her, but Alder has seen literally thousands of witches die during her lifetime so to her, it was worth the risk outweighed the potential damage that the Spree could have done. She knows that collateral damage is part of war. I think that's part of the reason that she distances herself from the cadets. They are necessary parts of the machine that's fighting the Spree and many of them will not survive. By keeping herself slightly removed from them, she avoids getting close to them so that when they inevitably die, she can keep going. Again, not saying I agree with her but I can see that she is more focused on her two goals of eradicating the Spree and keeping the witch military around.

Anacostia, Tally, and Abigail were clearly not comfortable with Alder's decision so maybe they will join the splinter group that I keep expecting to break away from Alder and the main army.

I knew that Libba was destined to die as soon as she and Abigail dropped their lifelong hatred of each other.

I was so glad when Raelle finally stopped raging at Tally about Scylla. Tally was truly trying to protect Raelle when she told Anacostia about Scylla and then she was ordered not to tell anyone else what she knew. As someone who was so idealistic about excited about joining, of course she did as she was told even though she wanted to tell Raelle the truth. By the time that Raelle spoke with Anacostia again, it was clear that she had stopped drinking the Kool-Aid (thank goodness).

[tennisgurl]

Poor Libba, I knew that the second she and Abigail had a nice moment and were moving from enemies to friends that she was in danger, but it was still really sad to see. Its sucks that she died, as she was a fun character, but this is probably what happens when you send a bunch of cadets who haven't even finished basic into a combat situation against terrorists. 

Lots of great character moments this week, especially with Tally, and I am thrilled that she got more to do this week. She was really sad and even apologetic about hiding what she knew about Scylla, but also wasn't willing to let Raelle push her around, especially while they're in the middle of this big training exercise. Raelle was really getting on my nerves at first, refusing to see the increasingly obvious signs that Scylla was hiding something and messing them all up at at training, but she came around by the end, actually looking at everything that had happened and accepting the facts and that Tally wouldn't have accused Scylla of being Spree lightly. That fight with the Spree member who took Scyllas form was brutal, next time they see each other, Scylla is going to have a LOT of explaining to do! I do think that she genuinely fell for Raelle, but that doesn't change the fact that she is also a murderous terrorist who got with Raelle as a part of some kind of Spree plot. I dont think that Raelle will be able to take that lightly, even if she loves her. The three of them together on the helicopter all silently making up was really sweet, the actresses really sold it without any words needed.  

Also a good episode for Anacostia, she was quite empathetic and even gentle with Abigail and Raelle, especially with Raelle when she realized who Scylla really was, managed to lead the cadets, who are only a few months into training I assume, against the Spree on their own, and was clearly upset by Alder letting civilians die, and then lying about it. That should be interesting to see where it leads, it seems that she is losing some of her faith in Alder. 

I can guess that Alder would see that losing a few civilians is worth it to stop the Spree from getting away to commit another attack, and while I certainly dont approve, I can see how she could coldly see that as an acceptable loss. We know she has a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" style of leadership with how she drains life from the Biddies, and I guess that could be a consequence of fighting for several centuries, one war after the next, to the point where she can pretty easily see a few innocent lives lost in the course of war as just something that happens. I still think that she isn't a full on bad guy (or at least, the Spree is still worse) but she is clearly very morally ambiguous and sketchy. 

Poor Tally, this is clearly really hurting her, she so idealistically believed in the military and that she would do good and protect people in it. Its so sad to see some of that idealism hurt. Abigail isn't doing much better, she has been deeply shaken by the seeming callousness of the upper command, and with her still clearly dealing with PTSD after the wedding and now losing Libba, its just so much. Abigail beating the crap out of the fake Spree soldier was just so hard to watch, she is in such a bad place. Really love that Adil came by to check in on her and give her some comfort. They even cuddled! I really like them together, he brings out a real vulnerability in Abigail that she isn't even totally comfortable showing to Tally and Raelle yet, I think that they could be really good for each other. Also interesting that Abigail justified the witches creating storms to fight their enemies even though it created environmental problems for other people with a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument when she was talking to Adil last week, while she was deeply upset by Alder doing something similar, writing off the hostages as acceptable casualties, this week. 

It was really cool seeing the witches in a real battle this week, especially the flying/gliding, and Tally got to use her specialty! We also got some more interesting world building with the timeline (thanks @TiffanyNichelle for getting those down and sharing!) of conflicts. I love the world building we get, I hope that we get a series bible or some other material to get some more details about the world and this alternate history. 

[william0102]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

Also interesting that Abigail justified the witches creating storms to fight their enemies even though it created environmental problems for other people with a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument when she was talking to Adil last week, while she was deeply upset by Alder doing something similar, writing off the hostages as acceptable casualties, this week. 

I wonder if it wasn't the civilians so much as Libba's death. Obviously lying about the civilians was a big thing, but Alder didn't mention that it was cadets she sent. Alder might have said those that died were heroes, but if she was really honoring them, then wouldn't it make sense (in Abigail's mind) to say that Libba was a cadet who was basically the first person in line to go to war? That and the fact that her cousin was military but died at a family home, a senseless death in Abigail's eyes; Libba a cadet, and now the military is lying to the rest of the military that wasn't part of the operation. It might just make her question her mother more. Since her mom said that Raelle's mom died a noble death too, but Raelle said from her mom's letters that it had been a mistake to move the unit to that beach. I would like for it to go this way anyway. I really enjoyed the character beats for each of the girl's last night.

I had been waiting to see Anacostia's questioning of Alder since it was mentioned in a behind the storm vid. I thought it was a great parallel to the girls' storylines. Obviously it's personal to all of them what with Abigail's whole family, Tally probably only getting over losing so much of her family because they had given their lives for a "worthy cause", and Raelle losing her mom- but Anacostia was raised by the military as an orphan. That's gotta sting just a little bit harder.

[Chick2Chic]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Really love that Adil came by to check in on her and give her some comfort. They even cuddled! I really like them together, he brings out a real vulnerability in Abigail that she isn't even totally comfortable showing to Tally and Raelle yet, I think that they could be really good for each other.

I may have squeed a little bit at Adil's return and his specifically seeking Abigail out to check on her then that cuddle.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Chick2Chic
fixed something.